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2026/06/16: Atherton Tableland, Qld, Aus
We quickly checked for the tree kangaroo early this morning but it had moved. Got breakfast in town at a bakery. Australia appears to have no doughnuts. While we had a signal I got a blog post issued and Eileen caught up on various communications. After some quick shopping, we stopped at Bromfield Swamp, which is a scenic peatland in a volcanic crater. Most of the day was spent at Mt. Hypipamee NP in anticipation of spotlighting for up to four species of possums along the entrance road. Birding was slow but the crater, technically a diatreme or volcanic pipe formed by an explosion, was remarkable. Searched nearby for bettongs in the afternoon in rain, but to no avail. After dark, we found one Green Ring-tailed Possum, but the rain just kept getting heavier, so we headed back to camp, an hour away.
2026/06/17: Atherton Tableland, Qld, Aus
We got to Cathedral Fig early to try for Chowchilla, which was seen there yesterday, but despite having the place completely to ourselves for two hours with good weather, we did not connect with this interesting bird. On our way to Mt. Hypipamee for another effort at high-elevation species, we stopped to use the rest rooms at Malanda Falls. When I did a quick binocular scan of the trees, there was a Lumholtz’s Tree Kangaroo! We got much better views and photos than two days ago, and showed it in the scope to perhaps 20 people. The rest of the day and after dark were again lost to rain. During one lull, we saw the ground-loving Atherton Scrubwren, our only new species of the entire day.
2026/06/18: Atherton Tableland to Granite Gorge, Qld, Aus
Returned to Eacham Lake for one last shot at Chowchilla. It was actually sunny for over an hour, and the songbirds went crazy. Standing in one spot in the picnic area, saw 10 species of passerines well, the best songbirding of the trip! Staked out some fruiting trees for an hour, but no frugivores showed up. However, we saw a tiny native mouse, Pseudemys delicatulus, which was completely unexpected.
We then hiked the circuit around the lake, totally focused on leaf litter, which resulted in an upgraded view of Musky Rat-Kangaroo for Eileen. It was a thrill to finally see Chowchillas, a pair of which we tracked down after hearing their call. This is one of only three species in the family Orthonychidae, the others being the logrunners. A surprise was finding Spotted Catbird three times.
After a great lunch at Gillies, we left the Atherton Tableland and headed for camp at Granite Gorge. The draw here is habituated Mareeba Rock Wallabies, which climbed into Eileen’s lap as she fed them! As Eileen was finishing up photographing, she spotted an Echidna well up a cliff, providing a wonderful view. Finished the day by recording bats in camp.
2026/06/19: Chillagoe-Mungana Caves NP, Qld
Spent the morning in camp analyzing the complex suite of bat recordings from last night. Few recordings could be identified, though at least 6 spp were present. [Some species have seriously overlapping acoustic characteristics, and some species are poorly known, so many recordings can’t be confidently assigned to species.]
In contrast, tonight outside the Chilligoe Caves, on a beautiful evening in a scenic spot, we recorded five bat species and were able to identify four of them, two of which were lifers: Diadem Leaf-nosed Bat and Troughton’s Sheath-tailed Bat!
2026/06/20: Chillagoe to Undara Volcanic NP, Qld
Eileen had a lot of fun in the morning feeding Australian Magpies, Pied Butcherbirds, Apostlebirds, and Blue-faced Honeyeaters in the campsite. Started toward Undara late in the morning and discovered that the Google Maps route traversed far more kilometers of gravel than allowed by our rental agreement, so we had to retrace our steps all the way to Atherton, adding about two hours of driving. The predicted ETA of the new route was only a few minutes before our tour, so the five-hour drive was a nail-biter.
But we made it, and our guide kindly detoured a bit to see Antilopine Wallaroo, after we asked where to look for them. Our group of only six visited a marvelous lava tube filled with Eastern Horseshoe Bats and watched them exit, an awesome experience! Finished the night with an hour and a half looking around the campground for Rufous Bettongs, which we were assured would be easy. They were not.
2026/06/21: Forty Mile Scrub NP to Georgetown, Qld
I got up before dawn to try one more time for bettongs, without success. We then backtracked a bit to see an interesting habitat, Dry Vineforest, at Forty Mile Scrub NP. We birded a bit in Georgetown and then continued west to Cumberland Lagoon, one of my favorite campsites from 2004. Added 8 trip birds here in a few hours. Recorded bats, which did not start up until almost 45 minutes after sunset, but then 4 spp appeared in short order.
2026/06/22: To Karumba, Qld
Enjoyed the lovely morning in our campsite, adding two more trip birds and identifying bat sonograms from last night. The drive to Karumba was interesting, passing through three new habitats. Upon arrival, we only had time to bird a bit in mangroves and see the sun set over the Gulf of Carpinteria.
2026/06/23: Towards Mt. Isa, Qld
A long drive today (ca 6 hrs), with one stop at Chinaman Dam, near Cloncurry, and then camp at Clem Walton Park, halfway from there to Mt. Isa. At the former, while we were finishing up watching Varied Lorikeets (new for Eileen), I spotted a macropod silhouette on top of a distant cliff. With the scope, we got good looks at this Purple-necked Rock Wallaby, our primary mammal target tomorrow! Added two more bats to the list of those recorded so far, bringing the total to 15.
2026/06/24: Mt. Isa, Qld
It took about 2.5 hrs, but we finally got our scope on Spotted Bowerbird, for which our campsite was the only good chance on the whole trip. But the rest of the day was disappointing; of three sites for Kalkadoon Grasswren, the road to one was not suitable for our camper; another was posted [with No Trespassing signs]; and the third had been closed to public access except for a trail too rough for us.
It had been a long time since we’d seen a major supermarket, so we made a serious shopping trip in Mt. Isa. Had Thai for lunch, ordering extra to have plenty of leftovers. Camped in the bush behind a roadside rest; stars lovely in the arid air.
2026/06/25: Barkly Tableland, NT
We birded for a while in camp, then at another site where Carpentarian Grasswren is occasionally seen. Our negligible chances were further reduced by wind, so we headed for the Barkly Tableland, which has extensive areas of Tropical Tussock Grassland. We saw hundreds of Australian Pratincoles there, and the Playford River crossing was excellent, providing a good start to our Northern Territory list. The most exciting find was a lifer Yellow-billed Spoonbill among a number of Royal Spoonbills! We also had numbers of Fairy Martins, a trip bird, and Australian Terns, which were interesting to see inland. [Our very closely related Gull-billed Tern is strictly coastal.]
2026/06/26: Tennant Creek, NT
Stayed in a caravan park last night as we have so few campsites in the next few weeks with showers or any kind of signal. Caught up on e-mail, backups, google searches, etc. over an expensive and deeply disappointing breakfast. Our only birding stop of the day was at the wastewater treatment plant in Tennant Creek, which was very good – two trip birds plus Hoary-headed Grebe, a lifer, in nice breeding plumage!
2026/06/27: To Alice Springs, NT
Visited the Devils Marbles formation first thing, which was very dramatic, with vehicle-sized and larger rounded boulders arranged haphazardly. Heading south, we stopped for a raptor soaring with wings at a dihedral, and it was a beautifully plumaged Black-breasted Kite, our primary target today. At lunch in a picnic area, we added another lifer, Hooded Robin. But the day ended with a big letdown: the road to a key site was gated, spoiling both birding and camping plans.
2026/06/28: Santa Teresa Road, SE of Alice Springs, NT
A nice day, driving 20km past the end of the pavement and returning the same way. We made many stops for grassland and mulga species, but concentrated our efforts in a band of Triodea where there are eBird records of several spinifex obligates. Wind and limited access hindered our unsuccessful efforts. We did add 6 trip birds, with Brown Songlark a lifer and Red-browed Pardalote a catch-up bird for Eileen from 2004. Stayed until dusk hoping for Bourke’s Parrot, but detected no fly-out.
2026/06/29: Alice Springs, NT
It rained overnight and most of the morning except for brief interludes, during which we birded at the wastewater treatment plant. This site is no longer open to birders, and is only poorly visible from outside the fence, but we still managed to scope two lifers, Red-necked Avocet and Black-tailed Nativehen. Eileen had great fun photographing exquisite Australian Ringnecks in Olive Pink Botanic Garden. We got into our campsite for two nights in Ormiston Gorge about an hour before sunset.
We’ve now been on the road for 8 weeks. Our bird list is 278 spp. Eileen has had 50 life birds, while I have had 45. We’ve logged 52 mammals, with 42 of them lifers for me, and 39 for Eileen.